Tuesday, 22 May, 2012

The candidates are skirting issues related to environment, energy and science policy. Heard promising plans for greener energy, solid science advice, or coping with the decline of oil? We neither…

Coral reefs are the ocean’s biodiversity hotspots, but a new study finds that one-third of reef-building corals are under some threat of extinction.

When too much fertilizer reaches the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi River, a vast area gets robbed of oxygen. What can be done to reduce the dead zone that appears each summer?

Hawaii is the world’s capital of biological invasions. A new airborne gadget measures how bad the situation has become; offers aid in fighting weedy trees.

With the Nevada waste dump 20 years late, deadly radwaste still piles up. Would removing the plutonium for new fuel aid proliferators or help with waste storage? The debate continues.

Frosty questions: Are some snowflakes identical? How do flakes form, and how does weather affect their shape? How does ice in the atmosphere affect weather and climate? And where does the jet stream fit in this picture?

By marketing to billions of lower-income people, business can do well by doing good: Affordable green goods for “the base of the pyramid” could improve lives and cut environmental damage. Could this work?

Wildfires are a tragedy, but are human actions making them worse? What is the role of global warming and zoning? Can we build safer houses in safer locations?

How do hurricanes form? How do we predict their paths? How can we improve predictions?

Greenland’s icecap holds enough water to raise sea level by 7 meters. Some studies show it sliding faster into the sea. Should we worry? New report says “We don’t know.” Comforting?